RESTO 1996 Seadoo HX for $300 that I got running. What now?

[mikidymac]

Great job in getting it going!

I would suggest a new seat cover before water testing.

 

[noviceskier]

Great job in getting it going!

I would suggest a new seat cover before water testing.

Jettrim retro or the spike is the one I plan on getting, was thinking taking to to an upholstery shop to repair the damaged foam, or do any of you all have any threads/videos where I could do it myself?

 

[mikidymac]

Since the Jet-Trim is already padded if the foam isn't too bad you don't need to do anything with it.

I would suggest covering the foam with some good plastic sheeting before covering so that the foam doesn't soak up water.

 

[noviceskier]

Since the Jet-Trim is already padded if the foam isn't too bad you don't need to do anything with it.

I would suggest covering the foam with some good plastic sheeting before covering so that the foam doesn't soak up water.

Would some sort of sealer work with the foam, or would doing both work as well? I'll probably end up ordering the HX spike rather than the retro since I can't seem to find where to customize the seat on their website. Although I wish the spike had a bit more yellow to it.

 

[mikidymac]

Just give Jet-Trim a call as it is much better than messing with their old school website.

No, don't use any sealer, just clear plastic sheeting from Home Depot.

 

[noviceskier]

Just give Jet-Trim a call as it is much better than messing with their old school website.

No, don't use any sealer, just clear plastic sheeting from Home Depot.

Alright will do, before doing anything cosmetic wise, I’m wanting to see how it runs in the water. I’ll probably end up backing it into the water and just let it run while on the trailer and see how it goes, would be good to time check for any leaks too. Carbs seem to be spot on, very snappy when I cracked the throttle, and idled very well. Hope this all translates well for its first water test.

 

[mikidymac]

Just keep that seat dry. Once the soak up water they take forever to dry completely.

 

[noviceskier]

Just keep that seat dry. Once the soak up water they take forever to dry completely.

Now that I’ve got the ski in running order, even though it isn’t the best I put a little tarp over it to keep everything dry.
Where do you usually buy your solenoids from? I’ll be checking the prices through pro caliber tonight
Been looking at some gas caps and fuel selector caps and found some nos on eBay $25 for gas cap with chain still in packaging. Good buy?

 

[mikidymac]

I just buy OEM from either Pro Claiber or Seadoo Warehouse.

I don't recommend used gas caps because they can warp and the seal can be bad.

 

[noviceskier]

Took it on the water and wow, I almost forgot how much that thing wanted to tip. It was just hovering over the trailer in the water and was wanting to yank me off lol. It ran really good, starting in water was no issue and even letting it idle I'd suddenly crack the throttle to see if it'd load up or not and it responded very nicely. Plugs are looking like a nice golden brown as of right now.

Two problems though, the coolant lines are fuel of sand, and I see some oil in the hull, I'm thinking the oil came from when I was bleeding it but I don't want to take any chances. The pisser on the left side was clogged full of sand, although it was still seeping with some water (Engine didnt get hot at all, barely warm to the touch probably thanks to the water temp being freezing). Going to take them all off and probably replace them. Or should I just clean them with air? I'm more leaning to replacing though.

 

[mikidymac]

There's no reason to replace them. Just clean them out really good.

For the oil, clean it out and lay some nice white paper towels down to see any drips.

 

[noviceskier]

There's no reason to replace them. Just clean them out really good.

For the oil, clean it out and lay some nice white paper towels down to see any drips.

Will do, I was preparing just in case something like were to happen so I didn't pour the entire jug of oil into the tank. Didn't get the seat wet though!

Such a relief with it being able to run on the water, haven't been able to ride it yet though. Although from some little tests I've done, the responsiveness and whole feel feels a lot more exciting than the kawasakis.

Also the intermittent clunking noise from what I'm thinking is the solenoid, doesn't seem to be an issue now. Although I still plan on replacing that and the killswitch after I get some riding done on the ski, with a bunch of other small parts along with it.

 

[mikidymac]

Awesome job. The HX is a blast and a whole different animal than any other PWC.

 

[noviceskier]

Oil leak on the HX seems to be the two lines connecting to the oil filter zip tie seems too big for it, going to try smaller zipties to see if I can get a good clamp on the filter, this leak also caused the oil in my 3/32 lines to drain a bit too.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

get a small PWC water strainer for your main intake cooling line. I had sand ruin many motors before I figured out what happened. They'll run, but run hot and destroy motors. It'll also cause all sorts of weird symptoms. Keep your cooling passages clear.

 

[noviceskier]

Forgot to update the thread, but adding a smaller ziptie to the line that was leaking a wee bit of oil seemed to fix my problem as of now, I'm having trouble seeing if my 3/32 lines are full with oil since the golden transparent color makes it hard to see. But I'm sure I got rid of all the old tcw3 oil since that dark hue is gone from the oil lines. The ski even smokes a whole lot less now that the incorrect oil is out of its system.

 

[noviceskier]

Anyone know where I can source and oem or nos magenta fuel cap and fuel selector cap? From what I'm seeing on dealers websites they're all black, would like to keep the original color scheme of the scheme as best as possible.

 

[mikidymac]

eBay or Westside Powersports Seadoo will be your only option.

 

[noviceskier]

Oil line is still leaking, seems like the end is too stretched to make a good seal with the new oil filter, going to have to take the line off and try again with a hose clamp.

other news, finally got to work with the cosmetics, I think I did pretty well so far, going to paint the hood of the ski and leave the rest gelcoat.

Here's what I started with in the rear, still had the decals in the footwell, and all the old adhesive and rust stains too that needed to get taken of.

Started here with the white, wasn't as bad as the rest so only wet sanded with 2000 grit and then buffed and polished to the finish it has now.

Towards the end of the ski I had to get more aggresive with the wet sanding, using 1000 and then 2000 grit to get most of the staining out as I could, followed with compound and polish.

(There's some of the oil on the floor too, used some degreaser to get it out as best I could will do a more thorough cleaning when the leak is resolved.)

Here was a little more challenging, oxidation was a whole lot more noticable, wet sanded with 1000 grit, went through the side of the hull twice, followed with 2000 grit which I had then made four passed through, finished with one pass of 3000 grit on the DA, the whole process took about two hours to do so.

What it looked like after the first pass along the side.

Went through with the compound twice with a wool pad, and then twice with polish on a finishing pad

Applied a coat of wax which I plan to do on the entire ski, let to sit on the gelcoat for a couple minutes before wiping clean with a microfiber cloth.


Planing on wet sanding and getting the finish on the underside of the ski tomorrow too, along with finishing buffing and polishing the other side of the hull too, needing to wax the entire ski once I finish all that.

Leahter conditioner works very well on faded plastic too just in case anyone needing any help with theirs.

Was wanting to order the decals, seat cover, and mats tomorrow but with the whole coronavirus situation going on apparently people like hydroturf have to close up shop temporarily? If that's the case should I just wait till it all blows over before ordering?

 

[noviceskier]

Hey miki, can you send me some pictures of the bumper nose on your HX? I'm wanting to see how many plugs I'd need to order it since I don't have one.

Also, how much rub rail do I order? on the parts diagram it only shows one piece? Is that one piece enough to fit both sides of the ski? I've been looking to see if I can find any without ordering directly from them and they look different. Same thing applies for the insert too.

 

[mikidymac]

Don't paint the hood, mine looked worse than yours and buffed out perfectly. Just wet sand and buff.
Pretty sure the nose has 4 plugs. It's at my dads house and I am trying to stay away from him due to the virus.

I don't know if the rub rail is by the foot or not.

Contact @hfgreg from PWC Muscle and see if they are open and shipping. He is the go-to Hydroturf guy and offers a forum discount.

 

[noviceskier]

Don't paint the hood, mine looked worse than yours and buffed out perfectly. Just wet sand and buff.

Yeah, I got started on the hood just gonna buff/polish w/wax and just leave the defects. I will check their site tonight and see. Will order everything soon, just a small delay I guess. Still need to unclog the coolant lines and stop the one oil line from leaking.

 

[noviceskier]

Any HX owners have any recommendations for covers? I looked on poppy's website and it seems they dont make one for the HX, I found what looks to be a generic one on amazon but after doing all this work on the cosmetics to it I would hate for it to get ruined again.

https://www.amazon.com/Weatherproof...pY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1

 

[mikidymac]

I have a poppy cover on my HX.

I would shoot them an email.

 

[noviceskier]

I have a poppy cover on my HX.

I would shoot them an email.

Either that or I found a seller on ebay who has "new" oem ones listed for $275, don't think I could justify the price on one of those though, was hoping for it to be in the $180 dollar range.